About Blake Shaw

I am a photographer based in San Diego. I now specialize in bird photography, but also regularly photograph scenes of Mexico, Route 66, tennis, bicycle racing, flowers, and people. My work hangs in galleries in San Diego and elsewhere, and I am available for slide shows, lectures, and exhibitions.

June 2016

June 29, 2016

Peter Sagan, with an uncharacteristically serious look, awaits the awards presentations in Sacramento, after the final stage of the 2016 Tour of California. Sagan would be awarded second place for the stage, and awarded the green jersey for the overall sprint points competition. He shows off his rainbow jersey, as the winner of the 2015 World Championship race.

June 20, 2016

One nearly impossible task: explaining in 30 seconds or less, to a non-cycling-fan, how professional cycling is a team sport.

Here is one example of teamwork.

Dimension Data/Qbeka is the team of Mark Cavendish, one of the world's top sprinters. In a flat, sprinter's stage like Stage 8 of this year's Tour of California, it was the job of his teammates to facilitate his stage victory. His team had no contenders for the overall Tour win (the "general classification"), so to gain exposure for the team sponsor (which is the primary goal of professional cycling!), winning a stage is of great importance.

Leading into the final circuits in downtown Sacramento, there was a small group of breakaway riders. So Cavendish's teammates helped chase the breakaway down, saving Cavendish's energy for the final sprint. Here Tyler Farrar (in the black-and-white Dimension Data jersey), leads the field, while Cavendish is the fourth rider from the front behind another of his teammates.

A rider from team Tinkoff-Saxo is just behind Tyler Farrar, also helping chase down the break for his teammate Peter Sagan, who is visible in the green jersey further back.

Also visible is overall race leader Julian Alaphilippe, further back, but in a safe position, in the yellow jersey.

Cavendish won the sprint, just ahead of Peter Sagan and Alexander Kristoff.

June 16, 2016

Norwegian sprinter Alexander Kristoff narrowly beats Peter Sagan in the sprint into Santa Rosa in stage 7 of the 2016 Tour of California. What is remarkable is that Sagan was able to contest the sprint at all, after having been in a solo breakaway for 20 of the last 35 miles of the stage.

June 14, 2016

Dore is a gentleman from Seattle who has achieved more than his allotted 15 minutes of fame by running aside cyclists during the Tour of California and other bicycle races. He has a number of helmets bearing antlers and horns of various species, and has custom jerseys made bearing the names of star cyclists.

Here he runs alongside and encourages British cycling star Bradley Wiggins on an uphill stretch of Stage 7 of the 2016 Tour of California.